Starting next Sunday, March 3, readers across Brazil will have one more reason to know and experience the digital book—a reason they feel in their pockets. Booksellers, publishers and authors promote the first “Semana do Livro Digital,” a local version of Read an E-Book Week, a traditional online event that’s been running since 2004.

The Brazilian week will offer thousands of free or discounted e-books from March 3 through March 9, the same time period during which the original Canadian Read an E-Book Week event will be happening this year.

In Brazil, dozens of publishers and independent authors will be taking part in the event, including Livraria Cultura (a Brazilian Kobo partner), Zahar, FGV and Summus.

All promotions will be focused on the website semanadolivrodigital.com.br. The site will function as an online ‘book fair,’ in which readers will be able to navigate through promotions, including various promotions and even free books. Visitors to the site will also be able to search directly for their bookstores or publisher of choice.

This first Brazilian incarnation of Read an E-Book Week is promoted by Simplíssimo (which means “very very simple”); the company specializes in digital books services, and publishes the e-book news magazine Revolução eBook.

Comments:

Well, I don’t know who your sources are, but “thousands of free or discounted e-books” is a bit of a stretch… Only a handful of publishers are participating (and not even the big ones, such as Record, Saraiva, Objetiva, Globo), and only Livraria Cultura/Kobo as a major store. It’s a nice idea, but probably not well thought out in advance over here.